Jude Bellingham certainly didn’t hide his Birmingham City allegiance with a light-hearted joke about Aston Villa fans.
The midfield sensation was joined by his England teammates for Euro 2024 at St. George’s Park for their send-off as they head to Germany.
Many adoring young fans were in attendance taking selfies and asking for autographs as they wished the Three Lions stars good luck for the tournament.
Bellingham, who’s enjoyed a stunning first season with Real Madrid, is a huge fan favourite and greeted with excitement.
As he was taking pictures and signing autographs, presenter Josh Denzel pointed out to him that there some Villa fans in the crowd in front of him.
Bellingham, whose boyhood club is Villa’s rivals Birmingham, playfully replied: “You’re joking, I feel bad for signing them now!”
The 20-year-old smiled and continued to greet fans, putting any club rivalries aside as he prepares to represent England at Euro 2024.
“Very excited, looking forward to it,” he also said. “Great send-off here and hopefully we can make them proud.”
Alongside him was Eberechi Eze, who has been called up for his first major tournament with England and he too showed love the hundreds of fans who waved them off.
“A beautiful experience. Having everyone here to support, it’s insane,” Eze said. “This is my first one. It’s a massive achievement and I’m blessed to be here. We’re going to do our best to win it.”
Aged just 19, Kobbie Mainoo is the youngest player in the England squad for the Euros having been selected after an excellent season at Manchester United.
He recalled the moment in which he found out the news that he was called up by Gareth Southgate, saying: “I think the provisional squad, I think I might have been at the club.
“I remember just a load of people coming up and congratulating me and I hadn’t seen it yet so I was like, ‘Okay, thanks!’ But when I checked I was buzzing.”
Captain Harry Kane was understandably also shown a lot of love from the fans and took time out to speak on his country’s chances of success.
“I’m excited. These tournaments are as big as they get, so I just can’t wait to get out there now and get started really,” Kane said.
“That would be the perfect combination [winning the trophy and the Golden Boot], but to be honest if I don’t score and we bring it home, that’s all that matters.
“That’s the aim from the team, we’ve done well in the other ones but it’s time that we got over the line. It’s going to be very hard and a lot of hard work along the way but we’re looking forward to it.”
Once the autographs and photos were done, the England players boarded their coaches and they departed their training base in Staffordshire for Birmingham Airport.
Fans were cheering them off and waving their St George’s Cross flags as the 26-man squad headed to Germany, where they will be staying in their five-star Golfresort Weimarer Land base camp, near to east-German town of Blankenhain,
England’s first Group C match at Euro 2024 comes against Serbia on Sunday before they play Denmark and Slovenia.
talkSPORT will bring you live coverage of every single game they play in the tournament, which kicks-off on Friday when hosts Germany face Scotland.
News Summary:
- ‘You’re joking’ – Jude Bellingham makes playful joke about Aston Villa fans at England send-off for Euro 2024
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